Dinner From Three Continents

Another lovely night with friends so the menu was “Food from Three Continents”
Italian Starter. Asian Main and American Dessert.

Our friend Jeannie gave Dale a bottle of Krug for his last significant birthday not only a bottle but a Magnum. We have been waiting to share it with her, so as she was going to be a guest at dinner Dale decided we would have it last night. Lucky all of us.

It was beautiful
I really love French Champagne.
There are some excellent Methode Champagnoise made here in New Zealand
But Krug well I ask you – one would never turn that down!

English Chef Hugh Fearnly Whitingstall made these Baby Caesar Salads
Which I thought would be lovely with the champagne
Really simple...
Baby Cos leaves filled with crunchy fried breadcrumbs
Topped with this beautiful Caesar Dressing.
This is courtesy of Ina Garten.

1 extra-large egg yolk at room temperature
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
8 to 10 anchovy fillets (optional)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good mild olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place the egg yolks, mustard, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, salt, and pepper into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
Process until smooth.

With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube (as though you were making mayonnaise), until thick.
Add the grated Parmesan cheese and pulse 3 times.
It’s a superb dressing. Certainly makes heaps we will eating Caesar salad for days
(Actually since I originally wrote this, we have had the Dressing on new potatoes in a BLT made with my Fabulous French Bread.)
Lots of uses

Fry the bread crumbs and cook in olive oil till crispy.
Wrap Cos lettuce leaves around breadcrumbs and serve with Caesar Dressing.

So onto the meal... we start with Italian
I have finally got my own copy of Marcella’s Italian Kitchen and when I opened it…it fell at this recipe.
Perfect for a spring dinner
Baked Prawn with Asparagus
It is her version of a classic recipe from a restaurant in Venice called Fiore.
She changed it a bit using potatoes instead of rice.

It is great.
Simple, and you can make it 2-3 hours ahead, just assemble before baking as shown below.

1 kilo asparagus
1 kilo prawns
250gms potatoes
2/3 cup chopped onions
5 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Plus an extra 2 tablespoon for topping
Freshly ground black pepper.
Trim asparagus and break off hard ends
Cook in big pan of boiling salted water
Juts cook for 2-3 minutes
Drain and cool
Cut each spear into 3 pieces

Wash the prawns in cold water and pat dry with paper towel and reserve.

Boil potatoes in salted water
Put them through a food mill or ricer in a bowl large enough to take all ingredients
Put 3 tablespoon of butter and the oil into a pan
Add chopped onions and sauté till golden brown
Add asparagus toss around for about a minute.

Now you can prepare to this stage and let sit about 2 hours.
Which is great for a dinner party.

To continue
Heat oven to 210C
Add onion mixture to potatoes
Then cream and 1/2 cup cheese salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toss around and add prawns
Pour into baking dish
Top with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan and knobs of the remaining butter.
Bake 15- 20 minutes till prawns are pink.
Let sit for 5 minutes and serve.
The flavours are amazing. Loved it.

So for the Main course...Off to Asia and another recipe off the telly
Inspired by Huey’s Cooking Adventures

Asian Beef with Lemon Grass and Ginger
2 large onions chopped
1.5 kilos of cross cut blade steak (this is excellent for stew. It likes long slow cooking) Cut into cubes.
1 x 400 gms tin coconut milk
1 x 400 gms tin of diced tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon of Sambal Olek

But first make a paste in the mortar and pestle of
2 x lemongrass stick hard skin off bashed and chopped finely
3 x red chilies de-seeded
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 tablespoon toasted coriander seeds
Chopped 2 large onions in
2 tablespoons oil in pan
Add onions and paste cook down till soft
Add turmeric, cumin and Sambal Olek
Add the beef
Brown the meat
You will have to transfer to a bigger pot for this amount of meat

Add coconut milk and diced tomatoes
1 x cup beef stock
Bring to simmer cook slowly about 2 –3 hours till meat is tender.
Garnish with a few coriander leaves and serve with rice
In between courses of course we have the smokers
and the non smokers
Now for the Americas and dessert.
Actually the recipe is from Nigella Lawson( British) - but who makes the best Margaritas.
America of course
So our Canadian friend Laurian (pictured 2nd from right) made this delicious ice cream for us.
And I made the most American of Cookies - Chocolate Chip.

Margarita Ice Cream with Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

150gm icing sugar
125mls fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons tequila
3 tablespoons orange liqueur- Grand Marnier, Cointreau or Triple Sec

Mix together then add
500ml double cream
Whisk in until soft and creamy
Freeze

You will find the recipe for the cookies…just click here